This help page also lists tested video cards. Some cards that haven't been tested will nevertheless run the processes. You can look in your Preferences > Performance under Graphics Processor Settings to see what Photoshop thinks your video card can do.

I hope this helps. If not, Adobe personnel should be back on Monday to give you more specific technical help.

Looks like VRAM is way too low: requires 512 MB-2 GB (What needs to be 512MB-2GB? The built in Intel HD or the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M??).

I have to weigh up the options of upgrading this system or buying a new computer. I am new to design and I may be getting ahead of myself, but I do very much want to progress to video editing and 3d. At the moment, photoshop is a full time hobby for me, but I'm thinking of a career in it later...

QUESTION IS: can I get by with a minimal investment at this point in time?

I'm sure am delaying the inevitable, but can I do 3d without much extra cost and if I do get a bigger graphics card, will I be definitely be able to use 3d in photoshop with out slowing my system down a lot.

Note: It's probably good to mention that I will be making music on my home computer at a later date too. I expect I need a full upgrade???

"Looks like update my system to High Sierra will make a difference (on Sierra now) to my graphics processor. It says it's uses 64bit architecture (I have no idea what it uses now). I will clear my computer up and update today"?

You barely have enough of anything to run Sierra along with any app you open. 4GB RAM is way too low, although a fair bit can run on it if you have the patience to keep everything else closed and read a book while you're waiting. I wouldn't update to High Sierra, even if you can. It won't upgrade your video card, btw. High Sierra won't make that any better than what it already is, and is likely to slow everything down even more. You're on a laptop. Generally speaking, though some people make exceptions, what you got is all you get with a laptop. It's also a pretty old laptop.

You can still work in Photoshop, but my old 2009 Mac Pro is a better system than what you have. I've got 16GB RAM, a 2GB video card, and an old, slow processor. Only thing slower than my processor is Apple coming out with any decent upgrades to its lineup of computers for people who work with graphics. Only high end gamers rival graphics folk for what they want out of their computers.

Can you get by with a minimal investment? Well, yes and no. Video is more demanding than Photoshop. You can learn to use the apps (if AE and PP run on such low specs), by sticking to very small projects. You'll barely be able to render anything, but if AE and PP even run on your computer (run on mine, but note I have better specs, even if older), you can use your laptop for learning.

3D is out of the question. Unless your model MBP lets you upgrade both the card and your RAM, you won't stand a chance with your specs. 4GB RAM will go nowhere these days. Will it be painfully slow even if you do those things? Yes. I can't sugar coat it. As someone in the market for a new Mac, I know how expensive those puppies are, and I can hardly say to someone — oh, just get a new computer. If you can afford it, do. But get a serious amount of RAM, like 32 GB, and a 4GB video card (since 8GB is prohibitively expensive before you're earning money), and save on the processor and disk speed, since the other two are far more important than flat out speed to what you're wanting to do. You'll be waiting on things, but that's better than not running them at all. '-}

And accept the fact that what you want to do requires higher end computers than almost anybody else needs, so always try to keep that in your budget. Good luck with that.